Crusher apparatus and methods of crushing aggregates



July 18, 1961 H. A. WlRTH ETAL 2,992,783

CRUSHER APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CRUSHING AGGREGATES Filed. Feb. 5, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 2.6

HITORNIIYS Jul 18, 1961 H. A. WIRTH ETAL CRUSHER APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CRUSHING AGGREGATES Filed Feb. 5. 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 w if m n July 18, 1951 H. A. WIRTH ETAL CRUSHER APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CRUSHING AGGREGATES Filed Feb. 5, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 6 m e 6 b/ V 1 f MMWT m W5 .42 R n@ 0 fi 0 "H mm r H awaw HNWG nit 2,992,783 Patented July 18, 1961 2,992,783 CRUSHER APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CRUSHIN G AGGREGATES Hans A. Wirth, Durand, Norman E. Briggs, Plymouth,

Walter R. Kittle, Durand, and George B. Judson,

Linden, Mich, assignors to Simplicity Engineering Company, Durand, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Feb. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 790,929 12 Claims. (Cl. 241-275) This invention relates to crushers of the impact type in which the material to be crushed is fed to a rotating impeller assembly and is thrown, by centrifugal force, against the impact surface of the crusher bowl, which surface is substantially normal to the trajectory of the impelled material.

One of the prime objects of the invention is to design a crusher mechanism including circumferentially spaced apart impeller buckets and bowl liners into and against which the material is thrown and packed as the device begins to operate, continued operation providing a material against material crushing action; minimizing wear on the material engaging parts, and further providing a rough surface to facilitate the crushing action.

Another object is to design a crusher for crushing, by impact, previously processed lightweight and other aggregates to produce crushed material of required size much more rapidly, and far more economically than heretofore produced.

A further object is to provide a crusher mechanism including an impeller member equipped with one or more buckets, and means for feedingthe incoming material to the bucket at the optimum point, so that the buckets, in turn, and due to the centrifugal force, throw the material outwardly, in a predetermined path of travel, against the face of the bowl liners.

Still a further object is to provide simple, practical and easily mounted and/or demountable means for securing the buckets in set position on the impeller, which means is quickly and easily removable when necessary for assembly, replacement or repair.

Crusher mechanism of the type herein referred to is subjected to severe abrasive action and wear, so that the problem of maintenance and replacement presents an expensive, time consuming problem, with considerable down time required for replacement, repair and/ or adjustment of the various parts; and we have therefore designed a crushing mechanism which includes an impeller bucket having quickly removable, hard-nosed wear shoes of simple, practical, and inexpensive construction, which can be easily and quickly applied, removed, and/or reversed.

A further object is to design a fabricated bucket and wear shoe arrangement which is relatively economical to fabricate, assemble and install, and from which the Wear shoe is quickly removable, replaceable, and/ or reversible, without removal of the bucket or disassembly of the crusher.

A further object still is to provide a rugged, practical, and economical high production crusher, which can be readily manufactured and assembled, and which can be operated with a minimum ofpower consumption, re placement, and mechanical maintenance.

A further object still is to design a crusher by means of which previously processed material can be crushed to certain size or particles by controlling and adjusting the rpm. of the rotor assembly.

7 With the above and other objects in View, the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of the parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims; it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions and minor details of construction, without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, on a reduced scale, showing the crusher and driving mechanism.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, part sectional, side elevational view of the crusher, the arrows showing the direction of material flow.

FIG. 3 is a transverse, sectional plan view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; parts being broken away to more clearly show the construction.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view through the bowl and liner taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the buckets showing a wear shoe in place thereon, the broken lines illustrating the removal of the shoe for replacement or reversal.

FIG. 6 is a View similar to FIG. 5 showing a slightly modified bucket.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of one of the wear shoes.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the material diverting sleeve and table.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the bucket securing ring plate, illustrating also, in broken lines, one of the buckets in position thereon.

FIG. 10 is a part sectional, edge elevational view of the ring, bucket, and rotor.

FIG, 11 is a perspective view showing a modified wear shoe.

Referring now more specifically t the drawings in which is shown the preferred embodiment of our invention, the letter C generally indicates the cnisher housing which includes a preferably cylindrical bowl housing H, having a cover plate 10 on the upper end thereof. A cylindrical material receiving member 11 is mounted on the plate 10, and reinforcing gussets 12 are provided in said member in circumferentially spaced relation. The lower end of the bowl housing H is open as shown and terminates in a flanged base 13, so that it can be anchored to a foundation or other support, not shown, by means of bolts 12 or the like, and circumferentially spaced, vertically disposed reinforcing members 13a are secured to the outer face of said bowl housing.

Upwardly and inwardly inclined arms 14 are provided in the lower end of the housing H, and at their junction provide a bearing support 15, which accommodates an end bearing 16, held in place by the plate 17. A flange 18 is welded to and surrounds the upper end of the bowl housing H, and a liner section L is provided on the upper, inner face of the housing, in a manner and for a purpose to be presently described.

An upper feed hopper section 11 is mounted on the cover section 10, and rests in facial contact with, and is secured to the flange 18 by means of bolts 19. Converging arms 20 lead upwardly from the cover plate 10, and form a bearing support 21 in which a bearing 22 is mounted, and a plate 23, held in place by bolts 24, serves to support the bearing in which the upper end of the drive shaft S is mounted.

The vertically disposed drive shaft S is journaled in the bearing 16 and 22, and a drive pulley P is provided on the upper end of said shaft, said pulley being drivingly connected to a pulley 25 provided on a motor M by means of a belt 26 or the like.

A centrally disposed opening 27 is provided in the cover plate 10, and a cylindrical throat section 28 leads from thejfeed hopper member 11 to the impeller R which is mounted on the lower end of the shaft S, thus establishing communication between said impeller and the feed hopper 11. Openings 29 are provided in the cover 10 within the feed hopper 11, and cover plates 34% normally form a closure for said openings, and are provided with handles 31 as usual, these plates being readily removable, when necessary, to permit access to the impeller mechanism for repair, replacement, etc. of the various parts, and in a manner to be presently described.

Similar openings and covers 32 and 33 respectively, are provided in the cover plate 10, around the outer wall of the feed hopper 11, and these openings permit access to the liner sections L for removal, repair, or adjustment thereof when desired.

A relatively flat disc section 34 forms a part of the impeller R and is mounted on the lower end of the shaft S, the upper face of the outer section of said disc being turned a at 35 to accommodate a plurality of buckets B. Wear plates 36 are provided on this turned face as shown.

The buckets B are formed as clearly shown in FIGURES and 6 of the drawings, each bucket comprising upper, lower, side, and end walls 37, 38, 39 and 40 respectively, welded together to form a scoop-like structure, with upwardly projecting spacer lugs 41 provided on the outer face of the upper wall 37. The free end section 42 of the side wall can be inclined as shown, and for a purpose to be presently described.

Openings 43 are provided in the upper and lower walls 37 and 38 of each bucket, and accommodate bolts 44 which extend therethrough.

A flat ring or plate 45 is mounted on the upper face of the buckets B, said ring being formed with inwardly pressed sections 46 (see FIGS. 9 and of the drawings), these pressed sections nesting in depressed areas 47 provided in the upper wall of the bucket, and accommodating the heads 48 of the bolts 44. Cut-outs 49 are provided on the inner edge of the ring to accommodate the lugs 41 and serve to hold the buckets securely in set position on the impeller.

A vertically adjustable material deflecting table assembly N (see FIG. 8) surrounds the shaft S and comprises a pair of semi-circular sections 50 and 51, each with a flat disc or table section 52 provided on the lower end thereof. Each semi-circular section is formed with laterally projecting lugs 53, disposed when assembled, in facial contact, and bolts 53a serve to secure the lugs and sections in assembled relation. Support brackets 54 are welded to the upper end of the tubular sections, the upper ends being bolted to one of the arms 20, which support the upper bearing 22. A horizontally disposed stay A is secured to one of the gussets 12 and to the table N to prevent transverse movement thereof. With this arrangement, the material does not come into contact with the drive shaft, or the table section 52, the shaft being protected by the sections 50 and 51, and the table section 52 by a pair of wear plates 56. Plates 56 are mounted on the upper face of the table section 52 and are secured in position by means of bolts 56a, and when the wear plates become Worn, it is merely necessary to release the bolts 56a, remove the worn plates and replace them with a new set.

The cylindrical housing section 11 is mounted on the housing H, and this housing opens into the throat 28 for guiding the incoming material being treated.

The material to be crushed, flows into the crusher C, through member 11 (see arrows in FIG. 2 of the drawings), and throat 28 onto table N. Thence the material overflows into the path of travel and being caught by the rotating buckets B, thence being thrown outwardly, by centrifugal force, against the bowl liner L, as will be later described.

When the crusher is first operated, the incoming material builds up and packs in the feed hopper 11, as shown clearly in FIG. 2 of the drawings, thus providing a bed of material over which additional material flows through the throat 28, and thence onto table N, overflowing from table N into the path of travel of the buckets as the l impeller is driven, the material caught by the buckets tightly packs therein to a depth substantially as indicated by broken line X (see FIG. 3), so that with the additional incoming material, the contact and wear is on the wear shoe and built up bed of material in the bucket, and not on the bucket proper.

The material is thrown outwardly from the buckets B against the liners L, and inasmuch as the tip of the bucket is exposed to this highly abrasive action, we provide wear shoe W which covers the tip end 42 of the side wall as it will be obvious that conventional bucket without wear shoes would be very short-lived; require frequent replacement, and would be both costly and time consuming to manufacture and replace.

The wear shoes W cover and protect the tip end sections of each bucket, and these shoes can be made in various shapes and designs, one form being shown in FIG. 7 of the drawing, this design comprising a plate 57 bent as shown to provide slightly angled parallel legs 58, the bent or rounded end of each plate being built up with hard metal as at 59, the concentration of hard metal being greatest at the normal wear spots 60, so that the shoe will wear for a longer period of time and be easily reversible when one of the hard metal sections becomes worn and/ or removable for a new shoe, when the worn shoe is discarded.

When a shoe becomes worn so as to require reversal or replacement, the packed material F is first removed from the feed hopper, and the cover plate 30 can then be raised to provide access to the impeller shoes 3, and a hammer (not shown) can be utilized to loosen or remove the shoe, and it will be obvious that the difference in cost between the shoe and a new bucket represents a very substantial saving.

In FIG. 6 of the drawings, we have shown a slightly modified construction in which the plates 37 and 38, which form the top and bottom walls of the bucket, extend beyond the back wall to form wings 61, and bars 62 span these walls at a point in the rear of the back wall for reinforcing purposes. In this construction, the bolt 44 is out of the path of travel and contact with the incoming material to be crushed. The bolt 44 in this position is located close to the back wall, and the bucket is better balanced when loaded, as is also the entire impeller assembly, thus eliminating stress and strain.

A slightly modified wear shoe assembly I is shown in FIG. 11 of the drawing. In this construction the wear shoe is formed with spaced apart legs 63 and 64, welded or otherwise secured to a hard metal plate 65. This modified shoe is mounted and/or detached in the same manner as is shoe W, is quickly reversible, and no tools are required to install the shoe which can be positioned by hand, the slight angle of the side wall 39, plus the direction of rotation, holding it in proper position.

The bowl liner L is formed in sections as clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings, and comprises a plurality of sections 66, curved to snugly fit the inner wall of the housing H, the exposed face of each section being formed with a plurality of raised areas 67 cast integral therewith, forming grooves 67a therebetween, and providing a rough, impact surface against which the material strikes when thrown by the buckets B.

In practice the material to be processed is fed to the crusher; flows through the throat 28 (see arrows in FIG. 2) and builds up on table N, overflowing into the path of travel of the buckets, where it packs in each bucket as illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawing. After these areas are packed, the additional incoming material overflows into the path of travel of the buckets and is thrown outwardly, by centrifugal force, against the linear sections 66 (see the arrows in FIG. 2 of the drawings).

This packing of the material in the buckets is very important as it minimizes bucket wear and provides a rough pebbled area, which also helps the crushing action, .the material thrown by the buckets beingcrushed into an aggregate of required size, which discharges through opening P to a bin, hopper, or the like (not shown).

The table N is adjustable vertically (see the broken lines in FIG. 2 of the drawings), so that the material can be fed to the buckets at a point that insures all of the impelled material striking the working face of the liner.

The device has large capacity and crushes the aggregate uniformly to required size at a minimum cost. Maintenance and replacement expense is very low, and the bucket shoes are easily and quickly replaceable at minimum cost. While in the instant application we have shown several forms of wear shoes, we wish it understood that other designs may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Although the invention has hereinabove been described in connection with light weight aggregates, the crusher will also crush various other kinds of materials, such as stone, gravel, cinders, coal and ore with equally beneficial results.

From the foregoing description, it will be obvious that we have perfected a simple, practical and economical crusher for crushing dry, wet, hot or cold material at minimum cost, with minimum investment, and with maintenance.

What we claim is:

1. A centrifugal crusher comprising, a cylindrical housing; a vertically disposed driven shaft journaled therein, an impeller assembly mounted on said shaft and including a rotor; a plurality of substantially scoop-shaped buckets mounted on said rotor in circumferentially spaced apart relation, each bucket being formed with an angularly disposed outer lip section; quickly detachable wear shoes covering the outer ends of the lip sections; a crusher liner around said rotor and spaced therefrom; a nonrotatable table vertically spaced from said rotor; means for guiding the material to be crushed onto said table, and means for securing said buckets in set position on said rotor.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which each bucket comprises top, bottom, end and side walls, the top and bottom walls projecting rearwardly beyond the end wall, and means engageable with the projecting sections of said Walls for securing them in position on said rotor.

3. The combination as in claim 1 in which a feed hopper communicates with said impeller assembly, and the incoming material overflows said table into the path of travel of the buckets.

4. A centrifugal crusher comprising, a housing, a driven impeller assembly journaled therein and including a rotor, substantially scoop-shaped buckets mounted on said rotor, each bucket being formed with an inwardly disposed lip section, and a quickly attachable and detachable wear shoe mounted on the discharge end of said lip section, projecting anchor lugs on the upper wall of the buckets, a plate mounted on said buckets and engageable with said lugs for securing the buckets in set position;-means for feeding a material to said assembly, a liner section in said housing around the outer periphery of the rotor and spaced therefrom, said buckets directing the outwardly impelled material against said liner section as the impeller is driven.

5. A centrifugal crusher comprising, a housing, a driven impeller assembly journaled therein and including a generally horizontal rotor, substantially scoop-shaped, unitary, separable buckets mounted on said rotor, each bucket having a generally radially extending vertical side wall and a generally peripheral vertical outer wall extend)- ing therefrom with an inwardly disposed free lip section, a quickly detachable generally U-shaped, reversible wear shoe mounted on said free lip section; means for feeding a material to said assembly, a material subdividing surface fixed to said housing around the outer periphery of the rotor and spaced laterally therefrom, said buckets directing the outwardly impelled material over said wear shoes and against said subdividing surface as the impeller is driven.

6. A centrifugal crusher comprising; a bowl having a target surface on the interior wall thereof; a generally horizontally disposed, rotary impeller in said bowl generally laterally opposite said target surface; generally vertically disposed shaft means driving said impeller; a generally horizontal, stationary table supported generally centrally of said bowl and generally laterally of said target surface axially inward of said impeller and above said impeller; means for feeding material to be subdivided to the top of said table, said material overflowing material collected on said table and flowing laterally outwardly to said rotary impeller; and means for driving said shaft means and impeller to fling material laterally outwardly against said target surface and subdivide it.

7. The combination defined in claim 6 in which the nonarotatable table includes a vertical sleeve concentric with said shaft.

8. A centrifugal crusher comprising; a bowl structure including a generally cylindrical portion; a generally horizontally disposed, rotary impeller in said portion of the bowl; means for feeding material to be subdivided to said impeller; generally vertically disposed shaft means journalled by said bowl structure for driving said impeller; replaceable means on the interior of said portion of the bowl spaced laterally outward of said impeller for receiving material flung outwardly by said impeller and subdividing said material; a generally horizontal cover portion supported by said bowl structure above said impeller, said cover portion being generally above the space between said impeller and replaceable means; outer removable cover means removably supported between said cover portion and bowl portion periphery which can be removed to obtain access to said replaceable means; and inner removable cover means removably supported at its outer edge by said cover portion directly over said impeller to obtain access to said impeller.

9. The combination defined in claim 8 in which a vertically disposed tubular member open at both ends is supported on said eover portion radially in a position between said inner removable cover means and outer removable cover means and extends upwardly from said cover portion.

10. A centrifugal crusher comprising; a bowl structure including a generally cylindrical portion; a generally horizontally disposed, rotary impeller in said portion of the bowl; generally vertically disposed shaft means journalled by said bowl structure for driving said impeller; replaceable means on the interior of said portion of the bowl spaced laterally outward of said impeller for receiving material flung outwardly by said impeller and subdividing said material; a generally horizontal cover portion supported in fixed position by said bowl structure above said impeller, said cover portion being generally above the space between said impeller and replaceable means; outer removable cover means, removably supported between said cover portion and bowl cylindrical portion periphery, which can be removed to obtain access to said replaceable means; inner removable cover means, removably supported at its outer edge by said cover portion above said impeller, which can be removed to obtain access to said impeller; and a vertically disposed, tubular member open at both upper and lower ends and substantially centrally supported in said bowl section inwardly of said inner cover means for feeding material downwardly toward said impeller.

11. A centrifugal crusher comprising; a cylindrical housing, a driven impeller assembly journaled therein and including a rotor, a plurality of substantially scoopshaped buckets mounted on said rotor, a liner section in said housing around said rotor and spaced therefrom, a centrally disposed, non-rotatable table mounted in said housing and means for directing material to be crushed onto said table, and thence into the path of travel of said buckets for throwing it, by centrifugal force, against said liner section; each bucket being formed with an inwardly turned lip section, a quickly detachable Wear shoe formed with substantially parallel legs mounted on and forming a cover for said lip section, and a layer of hard metal provided on the exposed turned end of said wear shoe.

12. A centrifugal crusher comprising a housing; a driven impeller assembly journaled therein and including a generally horizontal, substantially annular rotor; vertically disposed shaft means journaled by said housing and driving said rotor; buckets mounted in circumferentially spaced relation on said rotor, each bucket having a generally radially ex-tending vertical side wall and a generally peripheral vertical outer wall extending angularly therefrom, each bucket having a quickly detachable wear shoe with similarly shaped, inner and outer peripheral surfaces at the free edge of said generally peripheral vertical wall forming an inwardly disposed, material releasing lip section therefor; means for feeding a material to be crushed to said rotor; and a material subdividing surface fixed to the interior of said housing around the outer periphery of the rotor and spaced laterally therefrom, said buckets directing the outwardly impelled material over said wear shoes and against said subdividing surface as the impeller is driven.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 352,459 Fuller et al. Nov. 19, 1886 982,516 Marks Jan. 24, 1911 1,293,654 Adams Feb. 11, 1919 1,405,151 Overstrom Jan. 31, 1922 1,636,033 Agnew July 19, 1927 1,816,408 State July 28, 1931 1,857,539 Hadsel May 10, 1932 2,207,194 Gruendler July 9, 1940 2,562,560 M-acartney July 31, 1951 2,637,502 Bond May 5, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 309,854 Great Britain 1930 (Complete, not accepted, published in 1930.) 688,169 Germany Feb. 14, 1940 

